by Structured Settlement Watchdog®
Secondary Market Annuity Investor, is a new website that aims to augment the unlearning process for the secondary market annuity scam label of structured settlement derivatives.
While companies like SMA Hub, Annuity Straight Talk, Genex Capital* and others notoriously choose to perpetuate the secondary market annuity scam label, we will highlight companies like Bulbrook-Drislane and others, which have chosen to reboot without misleading usage of the cachet of a regulated insurance product.
Bulbrook Drislane, a long time intermediary of structured settlement payment to individual investors and a general agent for annuities recently rebooted as Income Stream Funding Partners LLC. In lieu of Secondary Market Annuities and In-Force Annuities, IFSP refers to Previously Owned In-Force Payments and Secondary Market Payments. The company recent began a massive online marketing campaign. Well done. John Bulbrook and his partners get it.
I'm not the only one who sees things this way
Ken Nuss, The Founder of Annuity Advantage came to the following conclusion about the Secondary Market Annuity scam label:
" It is a completely unregulated industry. No licensing whatsoever is required in order to sell SMAs. That is the opinion of several of the largest marketers of the product. It is possible to have completely unregulated and inadequately trained individuals making claims and promises that may or may not be accurate. There is currently no regulatory body making sure things are handled in an appropriate way...Unlike primary market (directly issued) fixed annuity products, your state guaranty association provides NO coverage for secondary market annuities (SMAs)".
Investopedia has a bogus definition of Secondary Market Annuity. "A secondary market annuity (SMA) is a transaction in which the present owner of an income annuity trades his or her future income payments in favor of a lump sum payment". Three things are notable in Ivestopedia's bogus definition:
- Structured settlement derivatives are not a transaction. A transaction is not a product.
- The Investopedia link in the definition to the term "annuity" (see below) slits the throat of the Secondary Market Annuity scam label.
- The owner of a structured settlement annuity is generally a qualified assignment company. It is still the owner of the annuity contract and it is not the one transferring its future income payments in a structured settlement factoring transaction.
What is an 'Annuity' (Investopedia)
An annuity is a contractual financial product sold by financial institutions that is designed to accept and grow funds from an individual and then, upon annuitization, pay out a stream of payments to the individual at a later point in time. The period of time when an annuity is being funded and before payouts begin is referred to as the accumulation phase. Once payments commence, the contract is in the annuitization phase.
Even More Nonsense
Recently I read on its website that Somerset considers Life Settlements and Viatical Settlements as a type of Secondary Market Annuity. Absolute rubbish. Somerset suspended sales of structured settlement derivatives following the filing of a lawsuit by the Maryland Attorney General and in its announcement then stated in bold print " factored structured settlements are not annuities". It does however continue to maintain the site "secondarymarketannuities(dot)com"
*Genex Capital goes so far as to make use of the trademarked logos of AIG, New York LIfe and Pacific Life while also misrepresenting its rating with the Better Business Bureau to shill its wares. AIG, New York Life and Pacific Life have been notified accordingly.
Postscript
Following the publication of this post, someone (presumably associated with or hired by one of the companies written about) posted on a complaint site, copying the words on secondarymarket-annuity.com, a web site created as part of our pro-bono Structured Settlement Watchdog work. While I continue to offer justification for my opinion, they offer nothing to justify their almost charlantical use of the secondary market annuity scam label. With such shortcomings bearing down on them, they decided to make an ad hominem attack. In tossing such paper airplanes, they have unwittingly strengthened my position and cause, which in this instance, is simply to assist in unlearning the bogus, wholly misleading secondary market annuity scam label. Secondary market annuity scam labelers can choose to continue misleading the public, or in Genex Capital's case, provide justification other than Merriam Webster, or they can play a positive role in the unlearning process for the benefit of the public, like John Bulbrook. When you've spoken to people who bought structured settlement derivatives who thought they were sold annuities, whose payments were suspended due to unresolved litigation surrounding the Access Funding scam, or were facing a vacated court order due to fraud, or received a summons from the IRS over one of these deals, you realize that you can't just sit still and be silent. Many of these people are retirees. Now there's something to be pissed about.
The Altium Group, which also uses the aforementioned label, and was an intermediary in the Wall case says the following on its website
"Despite best efforts to comply with the SSPA, Secondary Market Annuity transfers possess a risk of criminal fraud and violations that can be committed by any party involved in the transaction. As such, a Secondary Market Annuity may result in a reversal or vacation of its underlying court order if it is determined that the original sale was approved under false pretense.
A Vacated or Reversed order would result in the termination of future annuity payments to the investor".
You don't see those types of warnings on real annuities because they are sold by licensed and regulated agents and brokers, and issued by licensed and regulated insurance companies. To its credit, following the Wall case, Altium Group has taken a leadership position in the development of Vacated Order Insurance, which incidentally is mentioned in this blog and on the secondarymarket-annuity.com website.
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